In the prior art, many persons have been using computing devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, smart phones, etc. (“computing devices”) to perform personal financial management functions (“PFM”). PFM can include tracking accounts at various financial institutions (“FI's”), accessing accounts at various FI's, budgeting, check deposit, direct deposit, etc. Specialized software was developed to address some of these various functions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,300 entitled “Method and system for transferring bill payment data”, details of transferring bill payment information are provided. A user identifies his/her current financial institution and provides authentication data associated with the current online account system. The current online account system is then accessed using the user-provided current online account system authentication data. The user is provided the opportunity to select what portions of the data are to be transferred to a bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of a new online account system. The selected data is then transferred to the bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of the new online account system. This appears to be a tedious manual system whose awkward, cumbersome and time-consuming nature would tend to discourage its use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,352,365 entitled “System and method for electronic bill presentment using a third party”, a method and system for electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) using a third party intermediary is described. A third party provides an electronic post office that uses a virtual address directory to provide a level of abstraction in an EBPP data stream using the ACH network so that EBPP participants do not require the information that is typically required to process such transactions. By using the virtual address directory, neither the biller, nor the bank, nor the intermediary have all the consumer data used in the transaction. Accordingly, privacy is enhanced and any risk that privacy will be compromised is reduced. However, nothing about this system appears to be proactive in nature.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,275,710 entitled “Systems and methods for automatic bill pay enrollment”, scans a paper bill into a digital image, recognizes information on the digital image, and then uses at least some of the recognized information to enroll a payee into a bill pay system. That invention, although valuable in a world converting from paper to electronic transactions, does not perform functions for proactively enrolling users in a bill pay system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,095,462 entitled “Dynamic enrollment control system, method and computer program product” discloses an enrollment control system for activating and deactivating enrollment of beneficiaries of a first entity in a service program, such as a bill pay service program, of a second entity. The system requests information from the second entity identifying beneficiaries enrolled in the program and the timing of services provided to the beneficiaries. A request is sent to the second entity to deactivate enrollment of beneficiaries who have not received services within a dormancy threshold time. Advantageously, no enrollment charges are incurred by the first entity for dormant beneficiaries not recently availing themselves of the second entity's services. Optionally, the system can monitor unfulfilled service requests and remove the corresponding beneficiaries from the deactivation request to avoid deactivating enrollment of a customer needing services. Further, the system detects new requests made by beneficiaries for services from the first entity and requests reactivation of the beneficiaries' accounts by the second entity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,856,386 entitled “Host exchange in bill paying services” discloses an account exchange system from Yodlee, Inc. The account exchange system is provided by a data aggregation service enabled for gathering data for a subscriber from a data repository of a first financial institution, using account exchange software operating on a server coupled to the data aggregation service. Initiated by a subscriber the account exchange software causes an account to be terminated at the first financial institution and a new account to be opened at a second financial institution, using data from the first financial institution, and processing the data to be compatible with data requirements at the second financial institution. Thus a simple transfer of account data is achieved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,783,567 entitled “Bill payment migration”, a method and system for migrating transactions, such as bill payment transactions, between payment modules and/or payment processors is disclosed. Each payment object is set up with payment information input to a payment module and results in one or more transactions. During a selective migration, each transaction is treated separately, based on a state of the transaction. A transaction that has either not yet been submitted, or has been completed can be migrated directly, while a transaction that is in some state of processing is iteratively migrated as it completes processing.
A United States Patent Application published as document no. 20120278148 and entitled “Systems, Devices, and/or Methods for Managing Consumer Finances” discloses advertising to consumers through financial management software. According to an exemplary embodiment, the My Life Cost system and method includes a budgeting and business marketing software application that detects, tracts, stores and analyzes financial transactions of a member to provide financial incentives and influence consumer spending. The My Life Cost system and method monitor the amount of money, credit or budgeted category that a member has available to spend on specific merchandise and services. Still according to other exemplary examples, the My Life Cost method and system provides marketing services to qualified businesses on a commission basis without any required upfront costs or any additional advertising fees. In further exemplary embodiments, the My Life Cost system and method includes on-line reports or notifications to a communications device that may be customized for each member and for each participating merchant or business.
A United States Patent Application published as document no. 20100217706 and entitled “Bill Payment Management” from Bank of America discloses methods, systems, and/or computer program products for bill payment management, including determining a periodic payment amount for a customer based on at least one bill of the customer. The periodic payments are periodically charged to the customer by an entity and the entity pays the bill(s) from an account.
However, none of the prior art documents disclose an invention that satisfies the objects, features and advantages of the present invention, as briefly summarized below and as legally defined in the appended claims.